I'm just getting involved in trading. I've "invested" for a long time, but I'd like to get more involved in swings or shorter term trades. I've been trying out ThinkorSwim since I have my account with TD, but I'm finding it not the most user friendly. I'm sure a lot is just lack of experience with it, but I'm wondering if anyone can suggest an ideal platform or if ToS is fine. One thing I notice in ThinkorSwim is the charts are sometimes squished, no matter how I adjust the size, it just doesn't give me nice looking candle sticks. Also, the level 2 display is somewhat confusing, I've seen some screenshots of others (etrade) and it seemed much easier to understand.

Retail platforms don't get any better than TOS. It's actually way more user friendly than you realize...what throws people is the level of customization it has. It seems overwhelming at first but eventually you will get a handle on it. Watch the free seminars from the "help" tab especially anything titled "wading pool" these can help you get a feel for what it is capable of. Your charts may look squished because of a setting. Try going to the little gear (chart setting) then under the "price axis" tab look at the "scale" setting and make sure it is set for "auto". If that's not it I would have to see what the problem is to understand. For level 2...there are several ways to set it up...the easiest for me is shown below.

I set this up in the "charts/Flexible grid" tab and the little boxes below can be set up to be any "gadget" you want. Mine is set up as follows from top to bottom left to right. 1. 1 or 2 day chart with 1 to 5 minute candles ...the purple line is a SPY comparison and volume is shown for the time frame and also for the price from the left side. 2. "AT" (active trader) you can select this from the grey bar on far right of screen. it shows how many shares are being bid/ask at different prices...I also have customized it to show shares traded at what price...this is where I usually place my stock orders from just by clicking in the price I want and it auto sends the amount of shares I set above....also shows P/L at diff price levels. 3. T&S (times and sales) shows orders that have gone through at what price and how many shares and whether it was a sell or a buy. 4. level 2 ....shows best offer from each exchange and how many shares at that price....

Nice, thanks for showing your setup, I'm going to have to play around some more. I did find some Youtube videos that were really helpful also, your 100% right, I think it's just a matter of taking more time to learn all of the customization options. I also found that their chat support is really good, I was really surprised when I got a quick response and was spot on.